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The Red List of Threatened Species, published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is a crucial tool for conservation decision-making. However, despite substantial effort, numerous species remain unassessed or have insufficient data available to be assigned a Red List extinction risk category. Moreover, the Red Listing process is subject to various sources of uncertainty and bias. The development of robust automated assessment methods could serve as an efficient and highly useful tool to accelerate the assessment process and offer provisional assessments. Here, we aimed to (1) present a machine learning–based automated extinction risk assessment method that can be used on less known species; (2) offer provisional assessments for all reptiles—the only major tetrapod group without a comprehensive Red List assessment; and ( 3) evaluate potential effects of human decision biases on the outcome of assessments. We use the method presented here to assess 4,369 reptile species that are currently unassessed or classified as Data Deficient by the IUCN. The models used in our predictions were 90% accurate in classifying species as threatened/nonthreatened, and 84% accurate in predicting specific extinction risk categories. Unassessed and Data Deficient reptiles were considerably more likely to be threatened than assessed species, adding to mounting evidence that these species warrant more conservation attention. The overall proportion of threatened species greatly increased when we included our provisional assessments. Assessor identities strongly affected prediction outcomes, suggesting that assessor effects need to be carefully considered in extinction risk assessments. Regions and taxa we identified as likely to be more threatened should be given increased attention in new assessments and conservation planning. Lastly, the method we present here can be easily implemented to help bridge the assessment gap for other less known taxa.

In the face of the biodiversity crisis, it is argued that we should prioritize species in order to capture high functional diversity (FD). Because species traits often reflect shared evolutionary history, many researchers have assumed that maximizing phylogenetic diversity (PD) should indirectly capture FD, a hypothesis that we name the “phylogenetic gambit”. Here, we empirically test this gambit using data on ecologically relevant traits from >15,000 vertebrate species. Specifically, we estimate a measure of surrogacy of PD for FD. We find that maximizing PD results in an average gain of 18% of FD relative to random choice. However, this average gain obscures the fact that in over one-third of the comparisons, maximum PD sets contain less FD than randomly chosen sets of species. These results suggest that, while maximizing PD protection can help to protect FD, it represents a risky conservation strategy. An ongoing conservation question is if we can maintain functional diversity by optimizing for preservation of phylogenetic diversity. Here, Mazel et al. show that functional diversity increases with phylogenetic diversity in some clades but not others, and thus could be a risky conservation strategy.

Phylogenetic diversity measures are increasingly used in conservation planning to represent aspects of biodiversity beyond that captured by species richness. Here we develop two new metrics that combine phylogenetic diversity and the extent of human pressure across the spatial distribution of species — one metric valuing regions and another prioritising species. We evaluate these metrics for reptiles, which have been largely neglected in previous studies, and contrast these results with equivalent calculations for all terrestrial vertebrate groups. We find that regions under high human pressure coincide with the most irreplaceable areas of reptilian diversity, and more than expected by chance. The highest priority reptile species score far above the top mammal and bird species, and reptiles include a disproportionate number of species with insufficient extinction risk data. Data Deficient species are, in terms of our species-level metric, comparable to Critically Endangered species and therefore may require urgent conservation attention. In addition to species richness, evolutionary measures of biodiversity are important considerations for conservation. Here, Gumbs et al. develop new biodiversity metrics incorporating phylogenetic diversity and human pressure and highlight conservation priorities in a global analysis of reptiles.

Conservation strategies based on charismatic flagship species, such as tigers, lions, and elephants, successfully attract funding from individuals and corporate donors. However, critics of this species-focused approach argue it wastes resources and often does not benefit broader biodiversity. If true, then the best way of raising conservation funds excludes the best way of spending it. Here we show that this conundrum can be resolved, and that the flagship species approach does not impede cost-effective conservation. Through a tailored prioritization approach, we identify places containing flagship species while also maximizing global biodiversity representation (based on 19,616 terrestrial and freshwater species). We then compare these results to scenarios that only maximized biodiversity representation, and demonstrate that our flagship-based approach achieves 79−89% of our objective. This provides strong evidence that prudently selected flagships can both raise funds for conservation and help target where these resources are best spent to conserve biodiversity. Conservation actions focused on flagship species are effective at raising funds and awareness. Here, McGowan et al. show that prioritizing areas for conservation based on the presence of flagship species results in the selection of areas with ~ 79-89% of the total species that would be selected by maximizing biodiversity representation only.

Phenology plays an important role in many human-nature interactions, but these seasonal patterns are often overlooked in conservation. Here, we provide the first broad exploration of seasonal patterns of interest in nature across many species and cultures. Using data from Wikipedia, a large online encyclopedia, we analyzed 2.33 billion pageviews to articles for 31,751 species across 245 languages. We show that seasonality plays an important role in how and when people interact with plants and animals online. In total, over 25% of species in our data set exhibited a seasonal pattern in at least one of their language-edition pages, and seasonality is significantly more prevalent in pages for plants and animals than it is in a random selection of Wikipedia articles. Pageview seasonality varies across taxonomic clades in ways that reflect observable patterns in phenology, with groups such as insects and flowering plants having higher seasonality than mammals. Differences between Wikipedia language editions are significant; pages in languages spoken at higher latitudes exhibit greater seasonality overall, and species seldom show the same pattern across multiple language editions. These results have relevance to conservation policy formulation and to improving our understanding of what drives human interest in biodiversity.

Attempts to minimize the effects of human-wildlife conflict (HWC) on conservation goals require an understanding of the mechanisms by which such conflicts are caused and sustained. This necessitates looking beyond the natural sciences to the human dimensions of wildlife management. Public dissemination of information regarding HWC occurs largely through the mass media. We conducted a content analysis of print media articles on human-leopard conflict in Mumbai, India. We sought to understand the framing of HWC and the changes in media coverage over a 10-year period (2001-2011) during which a large number of attacks on people prior to 2005 were followed by a program of trapping and relocation. After 2005, when there was a decrease in the level of conflict, the tone of English-language media reports changed. The perpetrator framing was over 5 times more likely before 2005, whereas a neutral framing was twice as likely after 2005. English-language and non-English-language print media differed significantly in their framing of HWC and in the kinds of solutions advocated. Our results also suggest the print mass media in Mumbai could be an influential conduit for content that diminishes HWC. These media outlets seem attentive to human-leopard conflict, capable of correcting erroneous perceptions and facilitating mitigation and effective management. We believe better contact and mutual understanding between conservation professionals and the mass media could be an important component of managing HWC. We further suggest that in such interactions conservation professionals need to be aware of cultural and linguistic differences in reporting within the country. Los intentos para minimizar los efectos del conflicto humanos-vida silvestre (CHVS) sobre las metas de conservación requieren del entendimiento de los mecanismos que causan tales conflictos y su persistencia. Esto obliga a mirar más allá de las ciencias naturales y considerar las dimensiones humanas del manejo de vida silvestre. La divulgación pública de información con respecto al CHVS ocurre generalmente a través de los medios de comunicación. Realizamos un análisis del contenido de artículos sobre el conflicto humanos-leopardo de Mumbai, India en medios impresos. Buscamos entender la conceptualización del CHVS y los cambios en la cobertura de los medios a lo largo de un periodo de diez años (2001-2011) durante el cual un gran número de ataques hacia personas previos a 2005 fueron seguidos por un programa de captura y reubicación. Después de 2005, cuando hubo una disminución en el nivel de conflicto, el tono de los reportajes de los medios en inglés cambió. La conceptualización del causante fue más de 5 veces más probable antes de 2005, mientras que la conceptualización neutral fue dos veces más probable después de 2005. Los medios impresos, tanto en inglés como en otros idiomas, diferían significativamente en la conceptualización del CHVS y en el tipo de soluciones promovidas. Nuestros resultados sugieren que los medios impresos en Mumbai podrían ser un conducto influyente para contenidos que disminuyen el CHVS. Estos medios parecen estar atentos al conflicto humano-leopardo, siendo capaces de corregir percepciones erróneas y facilitar la mitigación y el manejo efectivo. Creemos que un mejor contacto y entendimiento mutuo entre los profesionales de la conservación y los medios de comunicación podría ser un importante componente para el manejo del CHVS. Sugerimos que en tales interacciones los profesionales de la conservación necesitan estar al tanto de las diferencias culturales y lingüísticas en los reportajes dentro del país.

Staying power Areas of high species richness, particularly those with high numbers of species unique to that area, seem obvious candidates for conservation action. But this takes little account of the evolutionary potential of the plants and animals within that ecosystem. With the likelihood of rapid global change high, the conservation of evolutionary processes is increasingly recognized as a priority. Now a detailed analysis of the well known hotspot of flora biodiversity in the Cape in South Africa has come up with a thought-provoking result: the more species-rich western part of the Cape has lower evolutionary potential than the more neglected eastern part. The eastern area boasts fewer species than the west, but has greater phylogenetic diversity — an index of biodiversity that measures the length of evolutionary pathways that connect a given set of species. This finding has important consequences for conservation planning. Phylogenetic diversity is decoupled from taxon diversity for the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa, a biodiversity hotspot. It turns out that the more species-rich western part of the Cape has lower evolutionary potential than the more neglected eastern part, with important consequences for conservation planning. One of the biggest challenges for conservation biology is to provide conservation planners with ways to prioritize effort. Much attention has been focused on biodiversity hotspots 1 . However, the conservation of evolutionary process is now also acknowledged as a priority in the face of global change 2 . Phylogenetic diversity (PD) is a biodiversity index that measures the length of evolutionary pathways that connect a given set of taxa 3 , 4 . PD therefore identifies sets of taxa that maximize the accumulation of ‘feature diversity’. Recent studies, however, concluded that taxon richness is a good surrogate for PD 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 . Here we show taxon richness to be decoupled from PD, using a biome-wide phylogenetic analysis of the flora of an undisputed biodiversity hotspot—the Cape of South Africa. We demonstrate that this decoupling has real-world importance for conservation planning. Finally, using a database of medicinal and economic plant use 10 , we demonstrate that PD protection is the best strategy for preserving feature diversity in the Cape. We should be able to use PD to identify those key regions that maximize future options, both for the continuing evolution of life on Earth and for the benefit of society.

Bullet proof 'Silver bullet' conservation strategies assume that the distribution of extinction-prone species in one well studied taxonomic group will predict the distribution of comparable species in other groups. This has been hard to test, but the availability of new databases on the global distribution of birds, mammals and amphibians means that a test is now possible. The three groups show similar patterns in terms of overall species richness, but the distribution of threatened and rare species is different in each group. Silver bullet strategies alone, it seems, miss the target. Instead, priority areas for biodiversity conservation must be based on high-resolution data from multiple taxa. 'Silver-bullet' approaches to conservation assume that conservation strategy can be based on the distribution of species in one or two well known taxonomic groups, as there is high cross-taxon congruence in large-scale patterns of biodiversity. Although birds, mammals and amphibians show similar patterns in terms of overall species richness, the distribution of threatened and rare species is found to be different in each group. Global conservation strategies commonly assume that different taxonomic groups show congruent geographical patterns of diversity, and that the distribution of extinction-prone species in one group can therefore act as a surrogate for vulnerable species in other groups when conservation decisions are being made 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 . The validity of these assumptions remains unclear, however, because previous tests have been limited in both geographical and taxonomic extent 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 . Here we use a database on the global distribution of 19,349 living bird, mammal and amphibian species to show that, although the distribution of overall species richness is very similar among these groups, congruence in the distribution of rare and threatened species is markedly lower. Congruence is especially low among the very rarest species. Cross-taxon congruence is also highly scale dependent, being particularly low at the finer spatial resolutions relevant to real protected areas. ‘Hotspots’ of rarity and threat are therefore largely non-overlapping across groups, as are areas chosen to maximize species complementarity. Overall, our results indicate that ‘silver-bullet’ conservation strategies alone will not deliver efficient conservation solutions. Instead, priority areas for biodiversity conservation must be based on high-resolution data from multiple taxa.

Continued threats to global biodiversity have stimulated interest in the private purchase of land for conservation. Though not a new phenomenon, private land conservation appears to be on the rise, and its ambiguous position between philanthropy and financial investment leads to questions about the nature of landowner motives. To examine these motives, we used grounded theory techniques to analyze transcripts of narrative interviews with the owners of privately conserved areas (PCAs) and assessed what landowners had in common across a variety of cultural and policy contexts. The result was a model of PCA engagement in which landowners became personally invested in the management of PCAs and in the nature they protected. We found that PCAs can be conceptualized not merely as philanthropic endeavors or investments, but also as meaningful projects in which their owners engage. We integrated our findings with literature indicating that fundamental psychological drives for autonomy, efficacy, and social connection facilitate the engagement process, regardless of whether conservation motivation is intrinsic or extrinsic. Our findings suggest that land conservation programs might benefit from allowing landowner autonomy to the maximum extent possible, developing best practice standards against which landowners can assess their efficacy, and facilitating the development of landowner networks. Las continuas amenazas para la biodiversidad mundial han estimulado el interés por la compra privada de suelo para su conservación. Aunque no es un fenómeno novedoso, la conservación en suelo privado parece estar en aumento, y su posición ambigua entre la filantropía y la inversión financiera nos lleva a cuestionar la naturaleza tras los motivos de los terratenientes. Para examinar estos motivos usamos técnicas de teoría fundamentada para analizar las transcripciones de las entrevistas narrativas realizadas a los dueños de áreas de conservación privadas (ACP) y evaluamos lo que los terratenientes tuvieron en común a lo largo de una variedad de contextos culturales y políticos. El resultado fue un modelo de participación de ACP en el cual los terratenientes se interesaron personalmente por el manejo de las ACP y por la naturaleza a la cual protegen. Descubrimos que las ACP pueden conceptualizarse no sólo como esfuerzos filantrópicos o inversiones, sino también como proyectos significativos en los que participan sus dueños. Integramos nuestros hallazgos con la literatura que indica que los conductores psicológicos fundamentales de la autonomía, la eficiencia, y la conexión social facilitan el proceso de participación, sin importar si la motivación para la conservación es intrínseca o extrínseca. Nuestros hallazgos sugieren que los programas de conservación de suelo pueden considerar permitirles a los terratenientes tener autonomíaalamáxima extensión, desarrollar los mejores estándares de práctica con los cuales los terratenientes pueden evaluar su eficiencia, y facilitar el desarrollo de redes de terratenientes. 全球生物多祥性面临的持续威胁激发了私人购买土地进行保护的兴趣。私有土地保护虽然不是ー个新现 象但目前看来正日益时兴，而它介于公益行为和金融投资之间的模糊定位，引发了人们对土地所有者根本动机 的质疑。为了检验这些动机，我们用扎根理论技术分析了对私有保护地所有者的叙述访谈记录，并评估了不同文 化和政策背景下土地所有者的共同之处。結果得到ー个私有保护地参与模型，其中土地所有者个人对私有保护 地管理及受保护的自然资源进行投资。我们发现私有保护地的意义不只是公益行为或投资，还可以看作是土地 所有者参与的ー项有意义的项目。整合我们的結果与文献资料，表明自主性、有效性和社会联系的基本心理驱 动カ俣进了土地所有者的参与，不论他们的保护动机是内在的还是外在的。研究结果还指出，土地保护项目可以 考虑最大限度地允许土地所有者自主自治，制定最佳实践标准供土地所有者进行有效性评估，并推动建立土地所 有者网络。

Background Systematic conservation planning is a discipline concerned with the prioritisation of resources for biodiversity conservation and is often used in the design or assessment of terrestrial and marine protected area networks. Despite being an evidence-based discipline, to date there has been no comprehensive review of the outcomes of systematic conservation plans and assessments of the relative effectiveness of applications in different contexts. To address this fundamental gap in knowledge, our primary research question was: what is the extent, distribution and robustness of evidence on conservation outcomes of systematic conservation planning around the globe? Methods A systematic mapping exercise was undertaken using standardised search terms across 29 sources, including publication databases, online repositories and a wide range of grey literature sources. The review team screened articles recursively, first by title only, then abstract and finally by full-text, using inclusion criteria related to systematic conservation plans conducted at sub-global scales and reported on since 1983. We sought studies that reported outcomes relating to natural, human, social, financial or institutional outcomes and which employed robust evaluation study designs. The following information was extracted from included studies: bibliographic details, background information including location of study and broad objectives of the plan, study design, reported outcomes and context. Results Of the approximately 10,000 unique articles returned through our searches, 1209 were included for full-text screening and 43 studies reported outcomes of conservation planning interventions. However, only three studies involved the use of evaluation study designs which are suitably rigorous for inclusion, according to best-practice guidelines. The three included studies were undertaken in the Gulf of California (Mexico), Réunion Island, and The Nature Conservancy’s landholdings across the USA. The studies varied widely in context, purpose and outcomes. Study designs were non-experimental or qualitative, and involved use of spatial landholdings over time, stakeholder surveys and modelling of alternative planning scenarios. Conclusion Rigorous evaluations of systematic conservation plans are currently not published in academic journals or made publicly available elsewhere. Despite frequent claims relating to positive implications and outcomes of these planning activities, we show that evaluations are probably rarely conducted. This finding does not imply systematic conservation planning is not effective but highlights a significant gap in our understanding of how, when and why it may or may not be effective. Our results also corroborate claims that the literature on systematic conservation planning is dominated by methodological studies, rather than those that focus on implementation and outcomes, and support the case that this is a problematic imbalance in the literature. We emphasise the need for academics and practitioners to publish the outcomes of systematic conservation planning exercises and to consider employing robust evaluation methodologies when reporting project outcomes. Adequate reporting of outcomes will in turn enable transparency and accountability between institutions and funding bodies as well as improving the science and practice of conservation planning.